District, towns to discuss defeated budget

Voters reject the Northern Burlington County School District’s proposed spending plan for the fourth consecutive year.

By: William Wichert
   Between a defeated budget and two brand new school board seats, the Northern Burlington County Regional School District is recovering from an election that brought a mix of results and emotions.
   At local polls last week, voters filled four open board seats, two of which were recently created, but they also rejected the regional school district’s proposed spending plan for the fourth consecutive year.
   Following an October court decision that transferred two school board seats from Chesterfield Township to Springfield and North Hanover Townships, Linda Pastore was elected to the two-year Springfield seat and Roy Johnson won a three-year term representing North Hanover. Incumbents Kermit Pigott and Thomas Sensbach were re-elected to three-year seats representing Springfield and Mansfield Township, respectively. The new board members were sworn in at the reorganization meeting on Monday.
   These election results represent the final chapter of a court dispute that began when Burlington County Superintendent of Schools Walter Keiss used the 2000 U.S. Census population figures to determine that Chesterfield would gain a third board seat and North Hanover would lose one of its four seats.
   The school board’s argument that Mr. Keiss wrongfully included prisoners from Chesterfield’s Garden State and Albert C. Wagner youth correctional facilities into his calculation won the support of judges from the Appellate Division of State Superior Court, who ruled in the board’s favor last October.
   "I feel confident we have a good board. We have a hard-working board," said NBCR Superintendent James Sarruda. "I don’t anticipate the transition to be a difficult one. The transition is something I find exciting."
   The $30.6 million school budget, which was defeated by a 1,165 to 844 margin, is a different story.
   "The defeated budget creates a significant problem for the school," said Dr. Sarruda. "Whenever a school budget isn’t approved, I’m surprised. We’re just putting together a plan that works for them (voters)."
   School district officials and representatives of the four sending municipalities are expected to meet together within the next two weeks to review the budget, but until an agreement is reached, several needed expenditures will have to put on hold, said Dr. Sarruda.
   "We really can’t do anything until the budget’s certified," he said.
   Municipal representatives will recommend making cuts to the budget, but reaching a specific figure is no exact science. Two years ago, the municipalities recommended cutting about $500,000 out of the budget, but, last year, the recommendation was about $64,000, said Dr. Sarruda. If the school district does not accept the recommendations, it can appeal to the county superintendent. The deadline for certifying the budget is May 19.
   "The solution is for the state to fund education the way they’re supposed to," said Dr. Sarruda. "We’re hoping the townships will find a compromise that works well for everyone."
   James Nucito, one of the two Mansfield representatives on the school board, said the defeated budget is the voters’ way of telling state officials that they need to properly fund the school district.
   "The state has short-changed Northern Burlington millions of dollars," said Mr. Nucito, noting how state aid going to the district has not increased over the last few years, despite a rise in student enrollment. Dr. Sarruda previously said the district has lost over $3 million in state aid.
   Combined with state pressure to decrease school spending, these state aid cuts have put more of a burden on municipalities like Mansfield, which would have seen a 10.7-cent tax rate increase in the proposed budget. Of the 1,165 no votes on the budget, 799 were cast by Mansfield voters.
   "Mansfield has been going through a complicated cycle of higher real estate taxes," said Mr. Nucito. "Unfortunately, the only thing the people have to voice their opinions is their vote on the school budget."